Viktar Licvinau

A laboratory

In a small lab
resembling a box
the planets, meteorites,
sun and stars,
nitrogen and cosmic ice
revolve in their orbits.
On some of the planets
there is life,
some people think,
there are highly developed beings.
On some stars
chemical reactions take place
and life might start there
in a billon years,
some people think.
While life is fading
on other planets.
All of a sudden this cosmic idyll
is disturbed,
the air stirs,
rocks start falling,
cosmic ice drops onto
the sun in shiny
fragments.
The planets are knocked out of their orbits,
all matter congregates
in one corner.
God took
the lab by its corners
and shifted it
to another location.

(January 2006)

Transposed from Belarussian into English by the author and Johannes
Beilharz. All rights reserved.